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Experienced investigators always swear that the hardest part of any raid is the aftermath.
After the CCG is victorious – and the CCG is always victorious – come hours of awful cleanup. Today, investigators stagger out of the auction theater, those already outside desperately watching for friends to emerge. Squad leaders clutch their radios and shout, trying to contact their separated subordinates. Only professionals are allowed to retrieve the wounded, because hurt people have to be handled in special ways to avoid causing more damage. Stretchers come and go from the building as the medics cart the wounded to a special area, and line up those in critical condition in preparation for the next ambulance; for now, the dead are left where they lie. Investigators with no one to wait for start to harvest kakuhous and put them in coolers, while Division II masterminds stroll around now that the danger is gone, already planning the CCG’s next move. A few people cry, but mostly everyone right now is numb.
Haise sits on the hood of somebody’s car, watching the propped-open auction door from across the street. He feels useless if he’s just sitting here, but there’s nothing else he can do. Well, actually, he could be out sorting through the carnage for kakuhous, like he sees Akira doing when she comes out to swap for fresh coolers. But given his… unique background, Haise probably shouldn’t be seen getting comfortable with dead bodies. He’s also rather embarrassed that the whole building heard him when that new Owl experiment broadcasted his screams.
But that’s not what’s really worrying Haise. Suzuya hasn’t come out of the building yet.
Haise remembers just that morning when Suzuya pulled him aside before leaving with Mutsuki. “Haise,” he said conspiratorially, “you’re buying me a cake tonight, and we’re having a party."
“Wouldn’t miss it,” Haise had replied with a smile, catching Suzuya’s implicit meaning. He and Haise were like that. Put Suzuya in a room unsupervised, and he forgets the rules. Put Suzuya in a room with Haise, and he actively tries to break the rules.
Shirazu, Saiko, and Urie sit nearby, humoring their superior’s shyness. Mutsuki is wounded, but he’s already receiving treatment, so the other Quinx aren’t that worried, not like Haise is. Every time a shadow steps out of the exit, Haise’s eyes snap to the doorway.
Finally, Suzuya comes stomping out, Hanbee trailing. Even from across the street, he seems quieter than usual, but puts on a grin nonetheless. Dress dripping with ghoul, he spots Haise and waves, and leaves with Hanbee to rendezvous with his squad.
Later on, after the raid has been formally closed and everyone has gone home to wash off the blood, Haise gets the text he’s been waiting for. As usual, Suzuya invites him over, since his place is more discreet than Haise’s chateau. There are always stacks of reports to file after a raid, but they can wait. Only people like Urie actually get started on the paperwork tonight: everyone else is celebrating, mourning, or trying to process.
Haise takes a cab, stopping on the way to pick up a cake from a grocery store.
Haise always has been a bit strange for an investigator. Without Amon Koutarou, he’s the only one Donato Porpora can bear to talk to (and the only one who can bear to talk to Donato Porpora). He’s also the one who best understands Suzuya. Maybe there was something similar in their mothers, maybe it's because they both have gone through too much, or maybe it’s just the camaraderie of not fitting in at work. Whatever the reason, not even Hanbee gets him quite like Haise does.
It goes both ways. So, the first time Suzuya led Haise into an alley after a mission and told him to eat, he knew just how to prod to relax Haise’s inhibitions.
Haise thought it was some kind of a test at first. But Suzuya’s intentions were honest and genuine, paying Haise back for all the free snacks over the years. He didn’t like owing debts. “We got the ghoul. You’re supposed to be celebrating, right? Loosen up, I bet they feed you crap. You deserve this, and it's not like the dead guy will mind, so who cares.”
Haise remained frozen, so Suzuya rolled his eyes and bit in himself. “It’s okay, see?” His face squeezed into comical disgust. ”Blagh, you like this?”
Haise stared at Suzuya in plain shock. This didn't seem okay. But the smell, bitten and fresh, won him over and Haise seized the bloody scrap before he had time to change his mind.
Now as ever, Suzuya’s smuggled meat tastes divine. Whatever (whoever) it is, it’s a hell of a lot better than the Formula he gets weekly as a powdered mix. It’s like feeding a bear on protein shakes, and even Haise can't deny that he needs this. His kakugan flares, veins bloating down his cheek while he violates every oath he’d repeated back three years ago. With anyone else, Haise would want to cover his face and hide, but it’s pretty much impossible to feel awkward around Suzuya; his uncaring acceptance has a way of making Haise’s insecurities scatter.
There’s some CCG crime drama on TV. With so little publicly available information about ghouls, it’s inevitable that the show gets most of it wrong, but that just makes it funnier to watch. Suzuya enjoys his cake, Haise enjoys his meat, they laugh. The horrors of the raid slide off of them like the waning daylight outside. Haise is sore and exhausted from the trying day, but for a few hours, he can’t seem to stop smiling.
When Haise gets back to the chateau, Saiko’s investigator coat has been dropped carelessly in the middle of the floor, Mutsuki’s used bandages hang out of the trash, and Urie has not moved from the same spot with his stack of reports - adorable. There’s no sign of Shirazu, who made his first kill today. All of the Quinx have already come so far and grown up so much.
Haise smiles. Right now, he’s feeling pretty good.